


Wounds

by supernaturallylost



Category: RDG | Red Data Girl
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Tea, just tea being tea, not magical, the healing power of tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 06:50:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6944218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supernaturallylost/pseuds/supernaturallylost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miyuki and Izumiko spend a small school break in a mountain region that Miyuki has always wanted to visit. Izumiko only tagged along to make sure Yukimasa would let Miyuki go to the mountains, but she, too, finds a way to enjoy the trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wounds

Miyuki didn’t like the taste of oolongcha. He hardly liked the lemon tea that was served with breakfast at the inn, though that was mostly due to Izumiko’s love of it. Miyuki did love to be contrary, despite the excuses he made for himself to justify his actions. When it came to oolongcha, however, his taste wasn’t a reaction to someone else’s opinion. He had made that decision on his own. Well, that… and oolongcha was Yukimasa’s favorite tea.

Miserably, Miyuki sipped the tea that had been placed in front of him. He was beside Izumiko at the table, preparing for a hike up the mountain today.

“Will you be able to see the ocean today?” Izumiko wondered. She’d come from a completely different mountain, so she was unsure of the weather patterns in this area.

“I don’t know,” Miyuki answered curtly.

“I’d like to see the ocean again,” she said quietly.

Miyuki sipped his tea one more time before standing. He stretched his arms behind his back and turned his head to stretch his neck.

“Are you sure you want to go alone?” Izumiko asked.

As usual, Miyuki rolled his eyes. She couldn’t stay quiet for longer than two minutes these days. He ignored her. At the door, he grabbed his shoes and a light jacket. Without another word, he left the inn.

Alone with her thoughts, Izumiko tried desperately not to dwell on what was happening. Her attempts were all for naught, however, and the subject of her thoughts inevitably came back to the topic. Shaking her bangs from her eyes, she stood slowly. Her teacup, at least, was entirely empty. Noticing that Miyuki’s was still a quarter full, she leaned down. Picking up his cup, she moved half of the liquid into her cup.

‘There,’ she thought smartly, placing the cup back down again. ‘Now if he looks ungrateful, at least I will, too.’

She covered her yawn with the back of her hand and walked to the door. It was well before dinner time still, at least several hours from dusk. She was in a mountainous area she’d never been before, and her companion was off on his own, probably trying to find some peace at the summit of the mountain.

‘Oh well,’ she thought. ‘Maybe he’ll be happier after he has some time to himself.’

Left to her own devices, Izumiko decided to try a walk around the mountain. The trees here were a little different than she was used to from Mount Tamakura. Here, the trees grew twisted around each other, close together like communities of their own. The bark of the trees seemed discolored by rain and sun, but somehow, they all looked young and healthy. The leaves that sprouted from the tree limbs were a mystery as well. Some were flat and glossy, an olive green color that should have been uncommon in the area, and some were thin, almost like the needles of pines. Gazing around at the trees gave Izumiko some much needed peace.

As she walked along the mountainside, which was not too steep for her in her regular shoes, she took a moment to concentrate on each of her senses. Her eyes had seen the trees and examined them closely, so now she concentrated of what she could smell.

‘The forest always smells like home,’ she thought placidly.

The area smelled of wet bark and dirt, which could only be expected. There was an animal smell in the air as well, like the fur of a mountain rodent or something similar. Above all of that, she could also smell a nuttiness in the air. She smiled, ready to focus on the sounds of the area.

Water moved somewhere to her left as she walked, and there was a noise from something moving slowly to her right. She could also hear muttering. For a moment, she wondered if she had been speaking aloud, but then she realized someone else must be nearby. It wouldn’t be in any way unusual for a pilgrim or an ascetic monk to be in the area, so she wasn’t particularly disturbed by the sound. Instead, she followed it. She was curious to understand what the murmuring was.

Eventually, she found herself looking at Miyuki, who was standing in front of a tree trunk with his hands clenched at his sides. He seemed to be concentrating very hard.

Before Izumiko could even tilt her head and think about asking him what he was doing so far below the summit, he began to speak, louder this time.

“You don’t control me anymore!” he shouted at the tree.

He was breathing hard, and Izumiko could see even from where she stood that he’d been arguing with someone for a long time. She tried to see around the tree in front of her, trying to find out who he was arguing with, but she could only see the tree trunk he was standing beside.

“No,” Miyuki muttered to himself, “that’s not right either.”

Izumiko raised an eyebrow and tried to see Miyuki’s face.

“If I’m going to confront Yukimasa, I need to know what I’m going to say,” he told himself.

All of the sudden, Izumiko understood. Miyuki was practicing with the tree before he would speak to the man himself. He was going to challenge his father for control, once and for all.

After another deep breath, Miyuki nodded at the tree.

“Again…”

Izumiko slowly slinked away from the area, hoping she was quiet enough that Miyuki would never know she was there to see his rehearsal. When she arrived back at the inn, she went directly to her room and sat down. Miyuki didn’t return to the inn until after dinner had been served. When he did show up, Izumiko saw that his knuckles were red with blood.

“Oh, Sagara! What happened?” she asked, rushing forward to examine the wounds.

“What?” Miyuki asked. He looked down to where Izumiko’s concern was directed, like he hadn’t noticed the pain of his hand yet. “Oh.”

“What did you hit? Did you fight with Mr. Sagara again?” she asked.

Miyuki tilted his head and waved her away from him.

“Why would you think that?” he asked, looking for a napkin and some water to clean the dirt and blood from his hand.

“Wait!” Izumiko said, returning back to her position in front of Miyuki. “Let me help you take care of that.”

Miyuki looked like he was about to refuse, but he sighed and nodded. A few moments later, they were both sitting down together, one in front of the other. Izumiko held alcohol in her hand and warned him that although it would clean the wound, it would hurt. He nodded.

“Is that bark?” she asked when a piece of wood fell from his wound. “Did you hit the tree?”

“What tree?” Miyuki said suddenly.

Izumiko froze.

“What tree?” Miyuki repeated, tugging his hand away.

Deciding to come clean, Izumiko put her hands in her lap.

“I saw you yelling at the tree today, Sagara,” she said awkwardly. “I was wandering the mountain and I thought I heard something, so I followed the sound.”

“You spied on me,” Miyuki stated angrily.

“No, it wasn’t like that!”

“Sure,” Miyuki answered coldly. He stood, leaned down to snatch the bandage Izumiko had placed beside her, and then walked from the room.

“Wait, Sagara!” Izumiko said, but there was no reply.

 

The next morning, Miyuki arrived late for breakfast. He accepted his lemon tea graciously from their host, but he did not drink it. Instead, he sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to say.

Izumiko nodded. “Me, too.”

 

The day after that, Miyuki arrived at breakfast with four teacups in front of him. Izumiko had been waiting, and she sat across from him with four different tea pots.

“What is this?” Miyuki asked seriously, sitting down in front of the empty cups.

“I noticed that you disliked the tea you’d been drinking, so I asked for samples of other available teas in this area. I thought we could find out which you liked best, and then we could drink that one instead of always having lemon tea for breakfast and oolongcha after lunch.”

Miyuki looked visibly taken aback.

“I know you’ve tried all of these teas before, but I thought you might like to decide for yourself what you think this time.”

Without another word, Izumiko poured the first cup. A neon green tea filled the cup.

“This is sencha.”

As Miyuki looked on, dumbfounded, Izumiko considerately poured the remaining teas.

“This is hojicha,” she said, ignoring his gaze that was fixed on her. She poured the golden liquid into the second cup.

The third cup was filled with a very pale yellow tea.

“This is kamairi,” she said.

The last cup was filled with an almost black liquid.

“This is imported kocha, but the price is low enough that the hosts of the inn agreed to get it, if you’d like it.”

Miyuki looked up at Izumiko, who was sitting back with her hands in her lap, waiting for Miyuki’s decision. Unable to find the strength to lift his hand to a teacup, Miyuki shook his head.

“What is this?” he asked quietly.

Although Izumiko couldn’t say how, she knew what he was really asking. She answered in her usual quiet voice, but there was a small smile on her lips.

“You’re choosing a tea to drink while we stay here until school starts. Or, if you decide you don’t like these teas, we can stop drinking it altogether and switch to coffee or water.”

Miyuki opened his mouth, but Izumiko interrupted him.

“I know you hate oolongcha, and I know it’s because Mr. Sagara loves it so much. You always make a face at the lemon tea I love, so I know you’re against that as well. I want to help you find something that is just yours, even if it’s only a tea.”

Miyuki’s mouth remained in a confused frown, but his eyes began to smile.

“It won’t matter,” Izumiko continued quietly, “what anyone else thinks about it. You get to make this decision based on your own opinion.”

“Why would you give up your lemon tea to drink one of these?” he asked. “Why can’t you drink your tea while I drink the one I like?”

“You are always pulled into whatever I do,” Izumiko answered timidly. She looked down at her lap. “I want something to be yours, and I want to support you. When you pick a tea you like, I want to share it with you, unless you’d like to have it on your own.”

Miyuki’s smile moved to his lips and he nodded, reaching for the first cup. Silently, he sampled each tea, forming his own decisions based on bitterness, sweetness, and aftertaste. Eventually, he looked up at Izumiko, who was ready for the decision.

 

The next morning, the new tea was served. The same tea was served after lunch, as well. Miyuki and Izumiko drank the tea in silence, but the warmth of the drink spread through their entire bodies until their faces were blushing red.

“The tea is delicious today,” Izumiko thanked the host as he walked by.

“Yes, thank you for serving us this tea,” Miyuki said to the host as well.

When he looked back at Izumiko, she was beaming.

‘I know I’ve wounded Miyuki in the past with all of the things I’ve dragged him into,’ she thought, ‘but I think he’s starting to forgive me.’

She sipped her tea and felt at rest in her heart. Miyuki, too, swallowed the lemon tea and felt peace.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know..? I just totally understand Miyuki's emotions and how he has to despise something that the people who ruined his life love. I mean, Izumiko, in Miyuki's mind, did ruin his life. And Yukimasa is obviously to blame as well. But at the end, when he accepts the lemon tea that Izumiko loves, he accepts her and realizes that he has chosen to stick with her, even if he had no choice to start with.


End file.
